I finally finished the bathroom remodel! Now I'm painting a couple of frames that I found at the thrift store. Going to take them in and have mirrors put in, so that the ambient light in that small bathroom is reflecting in the mirrors to make it look bigger.

... and suddenly, the super hero formerly known as SoCalMama hunches in, raaaaaaawrs, squints eyes, and leaps over lab tables in a single bound! Lifting the door off the hinges, it flies into the hallway, scaring all and sundry, and turns green as they watch, eyeballs all a-saucer and knees all a-quake...

Or not.

Hoping that all is well in your world.

The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy. - Corrie Ten Boom
We have met the enemy and he is us, - Pogo

Oh wow yummy yum!!!! I cooked the steaks in a cast iron skillet in the oven on broil, as I have been doing with steaks for quite awhile now. It's easy to get a nice sear on the meat with this method. I love my husband dearly, but he is not great with the grill and usually will overcook a steak, no matter how thick I buy them. Sigh. My dad was a master on the grill and always cooked them perfectly. Hubby has many fine qualities, but grilling is not one of them

"There's so much trouble in this world; surrounded by miracles" - Citizen Cope

Spending the afternoon at the doctors after a chemical exposure / poisoning. Good times!

@Shop-et-al wrote:

... and suddenly, the super hero formerly known as SoCalMama hunches in, raaaaaaawrs, squints eyes, and leaps over lab tables in a single bound! Lifting the door off the hinges, it flies into the hallway, scaring all and sundry, and turns green as they watch, eyeballs all a-saucer and knees all a-quake...

Or not.

Hoping that all is well in your world.

Thanks. Yeah. I seem OK. Check back with me in 10-15 years to see if I am still kicking.

I wasn't thrilled to say the least. It was completely preventable. I don't seem to be having any immediate issues - breathing, burning, etc.

On days like that, I sure wish I was doing something safer, like getting a massage or getting fast food.

As I recall, all the steaks of my youth were "pan broiled,", i.e., in a well seasoned, cast iron pan, on stove top. (Medium rare, btw). A will seasoned pan needed no added fat to broil steaks. These days, I have the luxury of an enameled cast iron pan, which works just as well. Since I never succeeded is properly seasoning a regular cast iron pan, I consider mine a great luxury. Plus, is is a snap to clean and was left to me by a former tenant.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Headed to kohls to pick up some sleeveless, mock neck tees, in new colors, to wear under winter sweaters. Picking up wine for my trip. Freezing (or cooking and then freezing) food that will not last until I return.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

I didn't like steak as a kid. My Mom cooked them until they were leather, thinking that if there was any pink, she would kill her family.

When I lived in Kansas, some coworkers and I went to lunch at a restaurant that served only steak. I ordered mine well done, expecting to cut it into tiny pieces and swallowing it whole. My coworkers ordered for me: a bone in rib eye with a black pepper crust, cooked medium rare.

That awakened my tastebuds. Who knew steak wasn't tough!

@JASFLALMT wrote:

No, no, no, not intentionally!! He tries. And he will get it right about 1 out of 7 tries. But those are terrible odds with an expensive cut of meat, so the cast iron skillet is my safety net.

"There's so much trouble in this world; surrounded by miracles" - Citizen Cope

My father always had some weird saying about "slapping a steer on it's ass and sending it through the fire" so we were all raised on rare steaks, T-bones, porterhouse, ribeyes, strips. When I became a young adult, on my own, I found that there were cheaper cuts of beef, and those had to be cooked for SEVERAL hours ugh.

Today I made it out of the house and got some really great Merle Norman products, did a couple of convenience stores, my Sam's Club thingy, and sent a package of snacks to my friend's kids in FL. Decent day and hubby complimented my makeup.

So when I saw Porterhouse, I immediately thought of Porterhouse Blue... the fictional college within Cambridge... think I still have that and can give it a re-watch...

Anyway, we have our first Autumn snow. It was lovely when we were working in the early hours. It misted and added seemingly nothing to the dusting that fell before midnight Now, I will find something wonderful to listen to while sorting a small mountain of stuff. (Yesterday, we fetched eleven bins of stuff from storage and brought them home.) I anticipate that I will finish the yucky task by Halloween. That is a lot of stuff, but dealing with it provides a lot of time for listening to music, lessons, etc.

The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy. - Corrie Ten Boom
We have met the enemy and he is us, - Pogo

The rain that was supposed to come late this afternoon arrived early...a light sprinkle just as I was finishing up the grass cutting. Hopefully there will be enough to allow me to edge the front yard-damp turf is SO much easier than the current bone-dry.

Much of my colorful planting in the front yard this year was three clumps of tall red canna lilies. I'm afraid we will get a freeze before someone wants to put a contract on our house. When I dig the bulbs up the beds will look pretty bare.

@Sandy Shopper wrote:

Today I will be ripping out all the dead plants from the veggie garden after a hard freeze last night. 26 degrees in early October? What the hell, Mother Nature, what the hell?

Exactly! As a real estate agent of 19 years, I can tell you that autumn mums are a great investment in curb appeal when the more tender plants are gone. It's a good way promote your home. You can't sell it if buyers won't come in.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

That's what I'll do if I have to, but I'm looking to spend as little money as possible and it would take a lot of mums to replace groups of cannas. One of them is about four feet wide, and the others are a couple of feet wide). In addition, they're tall (four to five feet in height) and add nice height.

@walesmaven wrote:

Exactly! As a real estate agent of 19 years, I can tell you that autumn mums are a great investment in curb appeal when the more tender plants are gone. It's a good way promote your home. You can't sell it if buyers won't come in.

You do no hive to fill all of the square footage now occupied by the cannas. My local grocery store and lots of other places have blooming mums on sale, 2/$10. Get a few, plus some nice, contrasting color mulch. Space the plants at least 1 foot apart, mulch, breathe a sigh of relief.

No need to buy nursery stock guaranteed to bloom next year; you will be long gone.

ETA: Reminder to self. Get 2 pots of mums at the grocery store later today. Housemate who gardens will plant them while I am away.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

This morning went to visit our new and much improved beautiful senior center, and it is grand on 3 acres.
Looked at different classes and since my daughter is on my back to take an easy yoga class, they have (of all things) chair yoga, that should do it. Home to find a lengthly email from my pizza job assigned with ISS.
Seems the editor had trouble seeing, because he asked for information I had put in and tore my report apart.
Instructions asked for a pic of "exterior" of front door and floor, which I sent....Editor asked again but said interior when instructions say exterior. I'm never doing that again, I swear I'm retired. Just let me buy the damn pizza for $6.00 on Tuesday...have to take pictures of the veggies without getting employees or customer in pic and so many other stupid things, descriptions of every employee, and they don't wear name tags, sorry, I'm on a rant. Rest of day will be playing computer games, Candy Crush, T.V. and moving the fridge, as I dropped my eye drops behind...don't ask!!

One of the *#@! cats hawked a hairball right after eating-of COURSE on the new carpet! I've scooped up the solids and am drying the area out with baking soda. What's the best way to remove any leftover stain?

Couldn't sleep last night. Tried tossing and turning to no avail. Finally, I decided to do my 3 mile on the treadmill while watching The Great British Baking Show: Holiday Season on Netflix at 4:30. The good news for the day was dad got a second opinion and turns out he doesn't need surgery in his knees. Just some physical therapy would be good.

In my position, I support the ground stations for the NASA antennas around the world. I was on a conference call today, and my boss introduced me to the Alaska team. One person from the team said that I should visit the location in January or February to evaluate hazardous conditions. YIKES!

I know you probably mentioned this somewhere, but what color is the carpet? I know that the Dollar Tree sells a cheaper version of Oxyclean that is non-bleach but supposed to whiten well. I do remember reading somewhere that vinegar can help remove stains. They do make some cat stain specific products (I think Shout has one). Ugh, so sorry to hear that!

@KathyG wrote:

One of the *#@! cats hawked a hairball right after eating-of COURSE on the new carpet! I've scooped up the solids and am drying the area out with baking soda. What's the best way to remove any leftover stain?